There are those who think F1 tracks and IndyCar non-ovals are ‘road courses’, which hold ‘road races’. These are not road races. In Europe these are just called race tracks.
No.
This is a road race:
[note – this is quite long, over 10 mins]
The Isle of Man TT races. Insane isn’t it?! And that’s just the production class! The top race-spec Superbikes go even faster, unfortunately the only vids I can find are crappy home-video ones.
They also race sidecars, not your ordinary Wallace & Gromit affair either (keep watching through 8 minutes for the superb helicopter shots):
Driver: Jari-Matti Latvala (Co-driver: Miikka Anttila) Car: Ford Focus WRC Team: BP Ford World Rally Team Series: World Rally Championship Event:2009 Rally de Portugal
Background: You’ve probably heard of Jari-Matti’s crash last weekend in which he and co-driver Miikka rolled 17 times down a mountain and survived with barely a scratch. What you probably haven’t seen, and neither had I, was the build-up to the crash and the way he was driving through the stage. It seems his team boss had already warned him to calm down his driving after crashing out early in two previous events this year.
Important note: Please don’t think I’m joining the ranks of the ‘crash-happy’ who go trawling YT for smash-ups. This is to celebrate his driving and the fantastic safety work done by the FIA and the Ford World Rally Team.
This is some of the best driving I’ve ever seen, there are times you can barely watch – and this is the calmed down version?!
You can see how the crash was only caused by a knock against a barrier, pushing him to the right over the edge of the cliff.
Here’s the external view and a word from the man himself:
They were both VERY lucky indeed, a testament to the major safety improvements made in WRC over the last decade.
More from Latvala (via Autosport.com): “It was all my fault, I had the corner marked with a double caution, but the night before, I changed it. I have realised you should never change your notes after the recce. I realised we were going to crash, so I tried to use the Armco to slow the car. But it rolled over it and then it rolled and rolled. I can remember the crashing and the roll cage coming in. I thought: ‘We cannot survive this, it’s just not stopping.’ When it did stop, I looked to my co-driver Miikka and his eyes were red and full of blood because we had been upside down so many times. After I checked we were okay, I said: ‘Maybe this was our last rally.'”
I’ve been toying with the idea of an occasional series spotlighting videos of onboard laps, perhaps one a week, perhaps featuring an upcoming racetrack or someone in the news at the moment – and generally enjoy drivers pushing at the limit of their ability.
I’ve just seen a video which has prompted me to start the series a few days early. Head over tohttp://www.nofenders.net/ and check out the vid of Robert Doornbos in the 2007 CCWS Assen event.
I plan to use this feature in lieu of writing my own ‘track guide’ before F1 or IRL events, for I am lazy and this is the easy route.
I Watch Too Much Racing 